Legislative Elections in Chile

Weekly News Update on the Americas, #41114 December 1997

Elections were held on Dec. 11 in Chile for all 120 members of
the Chamber of Deputies, and for 20 of the 38 senators who are
chosen by popular vote. The ruling Democratic Concertation
coalition of President Eduardo Frei maintained its majority among
voters, but his party, the Christian Democratic Party (PDC), lost
votes. The combined parties of the Concertation got 50.5% of the
votes, down from 54.7% in the 1993 parliamentary elections. The
PDC got 23%, down from 28.9% in 1993, while the progressive
Concertation bloc made up of the Socialist Party and the Party
for Democracy (PPD) won 23.5%. The far rightwing opposition Union
for Chile--made up of the conservative Independent Democratic
Union (UDI) and the neoliberal National Renewal Party--won 38.9%,
up from 31.8% in 1993. [La Republica 12/13/97 from AFP] A record
13.7% of the total votes cast were void--up from 8.64% in 1993--
and 4.24% were blank. [Notimex 12/12/97]

The ruling coalition will have 20 senators, down from 21; the
rightwing coalition will have 17 senators, up from 16. In the
Chamber of Deputies, the Concertation will have 69 seats; the
Union for Chile will have 46, down from 49. While the ruling
coalition has maintained its majority, it will still be unable to
make changes to the Constitution, such as ending the system that
allows Pinochet to select a number of appointed lifetime
senators. [Clarin 12/13/97]

When asked for whom he had cast his vote, army chief and former
dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet joked that he had voted "for
Gladys Marin," leader of Chile's Communist Party (PC). At the
polling place where Pinochet voted, Marin got seven votes. [LR
12/12/97 from EFE] A combative leader whose husband was
disappeared under Pinochet's regime, Marin won a deputy seat with
15% of the vote. [Clarin 12/13/97] The PC as a whole won 6.47% of
the vote nationally, compared with 4.99% in 1993. [El Diario-La
Prensa 12/13/97 from EFE]